As we previously reported, Biogen has exercised its option to purchase additional shares of Samsung Bioepis, increasing Biogen’s ownership in the Samsung Bioepis joint venture from approximately 5.4% to approximately 49.9%. Last week, Samsung BioLogics announced that the asset transfer deal closed, transferring 9,226,068 shares of Samsung Bioepis to Biogen…
Following the FDA’s approval of Retacrit® (epotein alfa-epbx) as the first U.S. biosimilar of Amgen’s Epogen® and Johnson & Johnson’s Procrit® this past May, today Pfizer announced that it has launched Retacrit® in the United States. According to reports, Pfizer began shipping Retacrit® to wholesalers on November 12, 2018, at…
Below is a summary of recent updates in biosimilar-related proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Trastuzumab: Last month, the Board issued two Final Written Decisions in IPRs of U.S. Patent No. 7,892,549, which is directed to methods for the treatment…
On October 25, 2018, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California filed an indictment against four individuals (three of whom were former Genentech employees) alleging theft of trade secrets, computer fraud and abuse, and other crimes. The indictment alleges that the defendants stole trade secrets related to Genentech’s products…
On November 8, 2018, on its quarterly earnings call for Q3 2018 (transcript available here), Coherus BioSciences provided updates regarding its commercial launch plans for its recently approved Udenyca™ (pegfilgrastim-cbqv) biosimilar product. President, CEO and Chairman Denny Lefler told financial analysts on the call that Udenyca™ will be available for…
As we previously reported, Amgen is appealing the District Court’s decision to dismiss, with prejudice, Amgen’s patent infringement complaint against Coherus regarding its (recently approved) biosimilar of Neulasta® (pegfilgrastim). Amgen filed its opening brief on August 20, challenging the district court’s dismissal of the suit. On October 31, 2018, Coherus filed…
On November 1, 2018, Genentech and its co-plaintiffs dismissed the lawsuits they brought against Celltrion and Teva under the BPCIA in the District of New Jersey, in which the plaintiffs alleged that Celltrion’s filing of an aBLA relating to Truxima®, Celltrion’s proposed biosimilar to Rituxan® (rituximab), infringed certain patents. The…
Today, AbbVie and Momenta announced that they have entered into an agreement under which AbbVie has granted Momenta a global, royalty-bearing non-exclusive license to AbbVie’s intellectual property relating to Humira® (adalimumab). According to the press releases, the deal authorizes Momenta to launch its adalimumab biosimilar, M923, in the United States…
Below are some recent updates regarding biosimilar pipelines from around the globe. On November 2, 2018, Sandoz announced that it has decided “not [to] pursue its submission for biosimilar rituximab in the US at this time … follow[ing] a request by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for additional…
On October 23, 2018, we previously reported that the Federal Circuit ordered Momenta to show cause as to why Momenta’s appeal of a PTAB decision upholding the patentability of BMS’s U.S. Patent No. 8,476,239, relating to BMS’s ORENCIA® (abatacept) product, should not be dismissed as moot. Pursuant to Fed. R. App. P….